Jer 27:16-22 (NIV) Then I said to the priests and all
these people, "This is what the Lord says: Do not listen to the prophets
who say, 'Very soon now the articles from the Lord's house will be brought back
from Babylon.' They are prophesying lies to you. 17 Do not listen to them.
Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this city become a
ruin? 18 If they are prophets and have the word of the Lord, let them plead
with the Lord Almighty that the furnishings remaining in the house of the Lord
and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not be taken to
Babylon. 19 For this is what the Lord Almighty says about the pillars, the Sea,
the movable stands and the other furnishings that are left in this city, 20
which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he carried
Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,
along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem — 21 yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the
God of Israel, says about the things that are left in the house of the Lord and
in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem: 22 'They will be taken to
Babylon and there they will remain until the day I come for them,' declares the
Lord. 'Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.'"
NOTE: The prophecies in these chapters are a
collection of prophecies to the monarchs.
Chapter 26 was early in the reign of Jehoiakim (26:1), prior to the
attack of Babylon, and during a time where the real enemy seemed to be
Egypt. This prophecy is early in the
reign of Zedekiah (27:1) and after the first and second deportation to
Babylon. At this point, the items
mentioned are still in Jerusalem. Nine
years after the start of Zedekiah's reign, Babylon will come to take all the
items mentioned because of Zedekiah's rebellion. It will take of siege of two years, but in
the end Jerusalem falls.
Here is my
question. At this point, every one of
Jeremiah's prophecies have proven correct and the false prophet's messages have
proven wrong. Why does Zedekiah choose
to listen to a false message when the truth, verified prophecies, is right
before him? In other words, we can know
what is right and choose the opposite because … we don't want to hear what is
right and we don't want to do what is right--we want to do things our way. Isn't that the message of the garden of
Eden? We did not want God to rule our
lives. We believed the serpent when he
said we could be gods. We rebelled
against what is right because we wanted what was false. And we still do the same thing today. The gospel message is historically accurate
to those who are willing to research it.
But we deny it, because we don't want submit to God's rule in our life. Lord, open our eyes to see our own deceit.
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